Consumerist
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ikea
IKEA Starts Checking Receipts
Party time is over at the Red Hook IKEA where, taking a cue from their big-box brethren Walmart and Home Depot, the Swedish maker of flat-packed furniture has instituted some intense receipt checking procedures.
More »
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consumer rights
Apple Wants To Make Jailbreaking Worthy Of Jail Time, $2500 Fine
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has petitioned the Library of Congress to officially protect phone owners who bypass software restrictions on their phones—aka "jailbreaking." Apple has just filed an objection, arguing that doing so would infringe on their copyright. If Apple gets its way,
[it] would have the right to claim statutory damages of up to $2,500 "per act of circumvention." People who jailbreak phones, might even be subject to criminal penalties of as long as five years, if they circumvented copyright for a financial gain.
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debt collectors
Debunking The Debt Collectors' Spin Doctors
The nation's economic woes make debt collection a topic du jour, but while there are some good bits mixed into the Washington Post's article, "When Debt Collectors Disrupt Dinner," it probably should have been titled "What Debt Collectors Would Like You To Say And Do When They Call About The Credit Card." Read it with a shaker of salt. Read on for the good, the bad, and the lazy reporting, plus what you should actually to protect and exercise your rights as a debtor... More » -
consumer protection
Time To Bring Back The Consumer Czar
Last month, several consumer groups sent President-elect Obama a letter detailing a pro-consumer agenda for the new administration and Congress. One of those suggestions, supported by an editorial in today's New York Times, is reinstating the position of special assistant to the President on consumer affairs, also known as the consumer czar. -
lawsuits
Pro-Consumer Regulation Needs Real Teeth So You Can Sue The Jerks
If the recent economic meltdown has a bright spot, it is the possibility that smart regulation may return. There will always be those who will cheat if they can, putting both consumers and the market at risk. It cannot function properly without regulation to prevent cheating and ensure consumers are getting a fair deal. But without a private right of action and attorney fees, consumer protection regulations are nearly worthless. A "private right of action" means...
Sam Glover is a consumer rights lawyer, enemy of shady debt collectors, previous Consumerist contributor, and writes the Caveat Emptor blog. This is the first of his new column for Consumerist, appearing the first Monday of every month. More »
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walmart
Walmart Shuts Down Music Store, Deactivates DRM-Protected Songs
Last week, Walmart sent out emails to its online music store customers letting them know that on October 9th, 2008, they will no longer be able to play any DRM-crippled tracks. Unlike Yahoo, which did the right thing by offering free replacement downloads of unprotected songs when they killed their DRM program, Walmart simply brags about its new unlicensed model and tells you to burn your protected tracks to CD if you really want to listen to them in the future. Good job, Walmart, there goes another betrayed consumer into the welcoming arms of digital piracy. And another. And another... More » -
att
Washington Upholds ATT Customer's Right To Class Action
In another step towards the impending demise of mandatory binding arbitration, a customer's right to file a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Wireless was upheld by Washington Supreme Court yesterday. More » -
chargebacks
Chargebacks Have Geographical Limitations
Longtime Consumerist reader TBT read the fine print for a credit card she recently opened with Bank of America, and discovered that buried in pages 13 and 14 is a section that limits your right to request a chargeback to your home state or within 100 miles of your home address, and only for purchases over $50. He found this shocking, but, actually, this is a limitation provided by the Fair Credit Billing Act. If you dislike it, here's a great post of ours on writing effective letters to Congress. -
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lawsuits
Class Action Against Credit Card Companies Conspiring To Make Us All Accept Mandatory Arbitration Revived
Ross vs Bank of America is a class action suit against a pile of banks alleging that they conspired to make all consumers accept mandatory binding arbitration clauses. It got a boost on Friday when the Second Circuit remanded it back to lower courts for further consideration (read the 15 page decision here). The previous court had dismissed the case because it felt plaintiffs couldn't prove actual injury. The Second Circuit reversed, saying, "A card that limits the holder to arbitration is less valuable (all other factors being equal) than a card that offers the holder a choice between court action or arbitration." What did these banks do that was so bad? The plaintiffs claim a broad conspiracy between all the credit card players to institute mandatory arbitration agreements and kill off all non-arbitration agreement cards on the market, a gross violation of antitrust laws. Here's the breakdown: More » -
Good news for travelers: If you're bumped from a flight, you soon may be eligible to get up to $800 in compensation. This is up from the previous max of $400, an amount that had not been raised since 1978. [CNNMoney via Consumer World Blog]
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big pharma
Pre-Emption Doctrine Would Make FDA Responsible For All Drug Problems, Shield Big Pharma From Lawsuits
Johnson & Johnson is waiting to hear whether or not a judge in Ohio will allow any lawsuits over its Ortho birth control patch to move forward, and the New York Times says lawyers on both sides think there's a good chance he may find in the company's favor based on the doctrine of pre-emption. The argument goes that it's the FDA's responsibility to monitor the safety and labeling of drugs that go to market, and therefore if something goes wrong, it's the agency's fault and not the pharmaceutical company's. More » -
consumer rights
38.6% Of Reported Debt Collectors Demand More Money Than Is Legal
Debtors have rights, and sometimes they get violated. The FTC released its annual Fair Debt Collection Practices Act report, part of which documents the number of complaints they get about debt collectors violating consumers rates. FTC received 70,951 DCPA violation complaints in 2007. Of them:
38.6% demanded more money than allowed by law
19.7% harassed consumers with repeated calls
9.2% used obscene, profane, and abusive language
2% called before 8am or after 9pm
.3% threatened violence
6.5% falsely threatened lawsuits
13.2% called third parties repeatedly to get information about the consumerHere's more information about the FDCPA. You can lodge complaints with the FTC about FDCPA violations by calling filling out this online form or calling 1-877-FTC-HELP.
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travel
Federal Court Overturns NY Passenger Bill Of Rights
A sad day for air travelers:
A federal appeals court has rejected a law requiring airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground.
Apparently the ATA thought providing "food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground" was too onerous a requirement. New York is planning to appeal to the Supreme Court.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that New York's new state law interferes with federal law governing the price, route or service of an air carrier. It was the first law in the nation of its kind.
The appeals court said the new law was laudable but only the federal government has the authority to enact such a regulation.
The law was challenged before the appeals court by the Air Transport Association of America, the industry trade group representing leading U.S. airlines.
Court overturns passenger rights law [AP] (Thanks to Brandon Savage!)
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op-ed
Shopping Without Asterisks
America lies in slumber as a new swath of rights are violated, our consumer rights. The right to a fair deal. Companies have a right to try to make a profit. We have the right to receive the goods and services we purchase at the price and quality level advertised, and the right to seek redress if these expectations are not met. You earned that money with your sweat, and now you're just going to let someone take it from you? More » -
consumer rights
Said No To The Doctor's Arbitration Agreement
Today I successfully objected to an arbitration clause and was still able to get the service. It was for acupuncture. I was filling out all the blah blah forms and then I came across the arbitration agreement. I wasn't even planning on this, I just saw it and got really uncomfortable. More » -
small claims court
Suing Big Companies In Small Claims Court Is Fun And Easy
Taking a big company to small claims court sounds like a big hassle but reader Bill has done it successfully three times. He says the time and effort spent on taking a company to small claims court is far less then how it long it takes to get companies to fix above-average in complexity problems.
Here's his typical expenditure for a small claims suit: $24 and 45 minutes. The $24 is the cost to file a claim. The 45 minutes includes his total time of driving to and from court to file, as well as the time spent on the phone with the company when they call to settle.
See, in all cases, he hasn't even had to go to court: the company calls him up the day before the court date and gives him a settlement. It seems they prefer to do that then pay to fly a company representative who isn't fully versed on all the facts to court. Here's his true story of how he got what he deserved from Tmobile and Washington Mutual, without breaking a sweat. More »
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New Jersey, Rhode Island and Connecticut are preparing legislation similar to New York State's airline passenger's bill of rights. [San Francisco Chronicle via ConsumerWorldBlog]
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consumer rights
What To Do With A Recalled Toy
In the best scenario, you'll never make it out of the store with a recalled toy—if you manage to find one still on the shelves, retailers (at least the big ones) will likely catch it at check out because the UPC code will have been flagged. But for those times when you do end up with something that has to go back to the Island of (Really) Misfit Toys, here are some things to consider to reduce problems on your end. More »
consumer rights
New York, 6:04 AM
Tue Nov 10
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